


Encouragement

by cindergal



Category: As the World Turns
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Making Out, Revelations, Scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 08:56:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13609944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cindergal/pseuds/cindergal
Summary: Reid is encouraging in all kinds of ways.





	Encouragement

**Author's Note:**

> Importing some of my older fic from LJ. Originally posted there 11/27/12.

Luke calls it “encouragement.” Reid calls it torture.

But he also calls it very, very hot.

If anyone had told him six months ago that he’d be satisfied with just making out on the sofa like some goddam teenager, that he would stick around if a guy wasn’t willing to sleep with him by the third – oh, all right, second - date, he would have laughed. And then asked you what you’d been smoking. But with Luke, Reid is not just willing to put up with it. He’s kind of actually enjoying the hell out it.

Kissing has always been just a means to an end for Reid, but Luke has raised making out to an art form. Tonight, for example, they’re half sitting/half laying on Luke’s mother’s sofa while some late night talk show host drones on in the background. One of Luke’s hands is at the nape of his neck, the other grasping at his back, layers of clothing between them, and it’s somehow the hottest thing Reid has ever experienced. Hotter than any sex he’s ever had, and he’s had some really great sex. But Luke is so _intense_. So emotional. Every kiss, every touch, every sound, it _means_ something. It’s heady. Intoxicating. And Reid can’t get enough.

The soft sounds Luke is making right now, the low moans in the back of his throat, they go straight to Reid’s cock, and Reid knows that if he pushed Luke, just a little, he could probably get anything he wanted tonight. But he’s not going to do that. He decided a while ago, back in that ridiculous bridal suite at the Lakeview, that this was going to be Luke’s decision. He wants him to ask – or more precisely, beg – for it, and he’ll wait as long as it takes. Something tells him that when that time comes, it’s going to be more than worth it.

But that doesn’t mean that he’s above giving a little encouragement of his own. He moves his mouth to Luke’s neck, and Luke tilts his head back to give him more room, his fingers threading into Reid’s hair and holding him there. Reid slides his hand under Luke’s shirt, feeling Luke’s abdominal muscles tense under his touch. Reid’s fingers dance along the waistband of his jeans and then slide just underneath, and he smiles against Luke’s skin when Luke presses up into his touch.

That’s when he feels it. The scar. That unmistakable ridge of raised tissue that curves around Luke’s side. He can’t help but touch it, exam it, run his fingertips along it, and before he realizes what’s happening, Luke is gently pushing him away.

“Don’t,” Luke says softly, and Reid immediately pulls his hand away. He looks down at Luke, still flushed and breathing heavily, one arm now slung over his face.

“Hey,” Reid says, sitting up on the sofa and tugging at Luke’s hand. “Hey. C’mere.”

Luke lets himself be pulled into a more upright position, and then he’s hiding his face in the crook of Reid’s neck, holding on to him tight. Reid lets him for a moment, stroking his back before pulling back a little.

“Hey, look at me,” he says. “C’mon, Luke. Look at me.”

Luke does, and gives him a sheepish smile. “I was hoping to put off this conversation for a little while,” he says with a sigh. “But I guess the cat’s out of the bag. You know what that is, right?”

Reid shrugs. “Not really my area of expertise, but I’m thinking… kidney transplant.”

Luke nods. “Got it in one.”

“You must have been young,” Reid says.

Luke runs a hand through his hair and sighs heavily, and then launches into a lengthy but fascinating tale of underage drinking and stowing away on an airplane to Mexico and life threatening infection and black market organs. Reid might accuse anyone else of embellishment, but this is Luke, who wouldn’t do that, even if he weren’t ashamed of it, which his downcast eyes tell Reid he is. And a cold thread of fear goes through Reid at how close Luke came to death, even though Luke has tried his best to downplay it.

Reid presses his hand to Luke’s cheek. “So tell me that you’ve taken excellent care of this questionable kidney ever since,” he says.

Luke looks back down at his lap, where the fingers of one hand are entwined with Reid’s.

“Not always,” he says, biting his lip. Reid doesn’t say anything. Luke takes a deep breath and raises his head to look Reid in the eye. “I tend to drink when things don’t go well.” Luke had mentioned his drinking before, back when they were still denying they had feelings for each other, but Reid figured Luke would tell him when he was ready.

“How often have things not gone well?”

Luke laughs bitterly. “Well, a lot. But I guess I only drink when things _really_ don’t go well.”

“You want to talk about it?” Reid asks.

Luke shakes his head and pulls his hand away from Reid’s. “I think I’ve ruined your image of me enough for one night.”

He starts to get up, but Reid grabs his arm and tugs him back down. “Just what exactly do you think you’ve ruined? My so-called image of you? I’m not interested in an image. I’m interested in you.”

Luke still won’t look at him. “I guess I’m not sure you’ll like what you see.”

“Well, so far, I see a man who went through more crap than anyone I’ve ever known, and come out of it…you. I don’t know if you’re amazing because of what you went through, or in spite of it. I just know that you are.”

Luke raises his eyes to him then, and they’re literally brimming with emotion.

“Oh, geez. You’re not going to start leaking all over me now, are you?” Reid asks.

Luke laughs and swipes at his eyes with the back of his hand. “Maybe.”

Reid moves his hand to the back of Luke’s neck and pulls him close. So they’re forehead to forehead. So he can make sure Luke is paying attention. “Just remember one thing,” Reid says. “If you ever purposely put your health in jeopardy again, I will kick your ass.”

Luke nods. “Got it.” He bites his lip and looks at Reid through those long eyelashes of his. Jesus. “So, you really think I’m amazing?”

“I’m still here courting you, aren’t I?”

Luke’s smile lights up the room. “You are!”

“Blue balls and everything.”

Luke throws his head back and laughs out loud.

“Well,” he says, sobering quickly, and there’s nothing Victorian heroine at all in his tone of voice, “maybe we can do something about that.” The hand that’s resting on Reid’s chest slides down to his waist band and begins tugging at his belt.

“Hello? Is someone down here? Oh! Luke! Dr. Oliver!”

Luke jumps away and Reid closes his eyes, mourning the loss of Luke’s warmth briefly before he smiles as genuinely as he can – which is not very – in Lily’s direction.

“Ms. Walsh.”

Luke runs a hand through his hair, but it’s beyond repair. “I thought you were asleep, Mom.”

“Oh, I was. I just heard…something. Never mind. Good night!” she says, and disappears back up the stairs.

Reid slumps down further on the sofa, rubbing his forehead with his hand. “Oh my God, I’m dating a man who lives with his mother. Why am I doing this again?”

Luke beams at him. “Because I’m amazing?”

Reid smirks at him. “Oh, right. Good thing, too.”

“Yeah,” Luke says, resting his chin on Reid’s shoulder. “Lucky for me, you’re kind of amazing, too.”


End file.
